Candid Pictures

My Christmas pictures didn't come out too great. But then, they never really do, do they? There's actually a ban on Christmas morning pictures at our house. For obvious reasons:

That's me in my cracker hat.

But hope springs eternal. This is the second Christmas I've had my digital camera, but the first that I've really known what I was doing with it. So I thought, What would be the harm in snapping off a few shots? With the digital camera, you can see how the picture comes out right away and delete it if it's really bad. Like this:

That's J in her cracker hat.

Anyway, it's not just the Christmas pictures that have been coming out bad. All of the candid indoor shots I've been taking have been lacking something. Those taken with a flash look particularly bad:

The Aunties.

One obvious solution is to use natural light, although that's in short supply in New England in the winter. Sometimes a picture shot without the flash looks kind of cool:

The Birthday boy.

Then again, it doesn't always work:

Reading In the Night Kitchen.

Which means you have to turn up the lights if you want to get a halfway decent shot. The color is better, but it's not exactly candid any more:

Time for bed.

Also it's kind of a mood-wrecker, turning up the lights like that. So, anyway, I guess I have need to practice my indoor candids. I'll have another opportunity to do so today. Nothing like Christmas on a Saturday to make the holiday a three day extravaganza.